This disclosure is directed to a latch or lock mechanism for use with a set of burglar bars. Burglar bars are often installed on buildings to provide security from intruders. The present apparatus is a burglar bar system which is particularly adapted for installation inside a window, typically parallel to the window and anchored on the surrounding window frame. Intruders typically enter buildings either through the doors or windows. The present apparatus is a set of burglar bars which keep burglars from entry through a large opening such as a window or the like. It can also be used with patio doors and other installations which are normally closed by a window of some size. One of the problems with burglar bars is that they are preferably mounted on hinges so that they can be opened. Obviously, they are left closed and locked most of the time. When closed and locked, they increase the fire hazard to occupants of the structure. Thus, a fire, particularly the sort that occurs in the middle of the night, may trap residents of a building in the room protected by the burglar bars, and this has occasioned the death by smoke, suffocation or fire of many building occupants. Without the burglar bars, they could easily escape through the windows. Accordingly, many building regulatory agencies including fire departments have mandated that burglar bars be mounted on hinges so that they can swing inwardly and open. The burglar security, however, is contingent on the burglar bars being provided with a lock or latch mechanism not readily accessed by an intruder from the exterior. A key operated lock is not an acceptable lock mechanism; that is, the key lock mechanism is dangerous because the burglar bars are typically closed and locked, often with a quality pad lock, and the key is thereafter misplaced. Then, in a moment of panic when a structural fire might occur and escape is mandated in a few seconds, the occupant of the room cannot find the key. This is even more dangerous for those who are rudely awakened in the middle of the night with alarm conditions indicative of a fire which is a life threatening event. The problem is further compounded because the occupant of the room (i.e., a bedroom in a home) may well be an older person who does not remember where the key might be or perhaps a child too young to operate the key and padlock. Even where a stable adult is able to find a key for the padlock, lighting may be difficult or impossible and may well defeat operation of the equipment so that the protective burglar bars installed in the structure may well form an unintended prison for the occupant.
The present apparatus is however and improved locking system for a hinged burglar bar gate mounted in a window which assists in locking and unlocking. It is hand operated. It is mounted so that an intruder cannot penetrate the window and reach into the room and thereby operate the system. Rather, the lock mechanism is accessed by a user only from the interior of the room. This access limitation permits the installation of a lock which requires no padlock. Because the intruder cannot reach the device in an operative fashion through the window, it more than serves the purpose of providing burglar bars for installation in a window which cannot be opened from the exterior and yet which can be opened from the interior by anyone able to accept such instructions, even including relatively young children. This permits easy access to the latching mechanism which operates rather simply so that opening or release can be accomplished quickly.
With this in the background, the present apparatus is summarized as a hinge mounted gate adapted to be mounted in a window or other glass covered opening in a building. Access to the lock is limited; it is completely inaccessible by an intruder from the exterior, and is readily accessible by an occupant of the building. It complies with fire codes and the like in that it provides a lock which can be operated without searching for a key and yet which is secure against the intruder. So to speak, it is constructed and positioned to prevent the intruder from reaching the lock. Even the longest armed intruder cannot reach the locking mechanism because it is mounted in such a fashion as to preclude reaching through the window. In one embodiment, an upstanding frame member having a pair of spaced hinges supports a swinging gate made of burglar bars. This is mounted in a window. The gate has a latch bar which protrudes preferably horizontally. The lock mechanism of the disclosure incorporates an upstanding frame member which is ideally anchored to the window frame, as for instance by use of long bolts. The anchored upstanding frame member supports a housing which is open on one side. When installed, the housing opening faces the interior of the room through an opening, and the opening is located on the remote face of the rectangular housing. That is to say, it is sufficiently far from the window when installed that an intruder cannot reach into the opening. On the interior of the opening, the latching mechanism includes a second opening which requires the user to curl his fingers into the equipment to release a spring loaded latch mechanism. When released, it dropped downwardly by gravity and is therefore latched or unlatched by simple motion of the user initiating gravity movement. When unlatched, release occurs. The present apparatus thus incorporates a gravity operated, notched, rectangular, slidably mounted frame member which is enclosed within another rectangular or upright frame member. The two have matching notches to engage the latching bar; when the interior member is raised, it provides a U-shaped slot which encompasses the latching bar for locking purposes. When moved downwardly, unlatching occurs. When moved upwardly, latching occurs and is maintained by the action of a leaf spring which is hand released for engagement and disengagement.